The Dark Carnival is elaborated through a series of stories called Joker's Cards, each of which offers a specific lesson designed to change the "evil ways" of listeners before "the end consumes us all".

[4] Poverty and a difficult home life drove Bruce to move in with Rudy "The Rude Boy" Hill in River Rouge, a city near the industrial southwest side of Detroit.

[7] According to Alex Abbiss Chris Mclellan, then programming director of WJLB, declined to play the EP's single "Dog Beats" because Inner City Posse's members were white.

[19] The group started recording its fourth studio album, The Great Milenko, in 1996, during which Disney requested that the tracks "The Neden Game", "Under the Moon", and "Boogie Woogie Wu" be removed.

[20] During a music store autograph signing, Insane Clown Posse was notified that Hollywood Records had recalled the album within hours of its release,[20] despite having sold 18,000 copies and reaching No.63 on the Billboard 200.

[21][28] Entertainment Weekly music critic David Browne gave the record a C-minus rating: "[With] its puerile humor and intentionally ugly metal-rap tunes, the album feels oddly dated".

Two days after the Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) program, Insane Clown Posse began its rescheduled nationwide tour with House of Krazees and Myzery.

Eminem later released a skit on his album The Marshall Mathers LP depicting the members of Insane Clown Posse having sex with the fictional homosexual Ken Kaniff.

[33] The January 1998 issue of Spin magazine ran a four-page cartoon lampooning Insane Clown Posse and Juggalos, claiming that the group was offensive "not for their obscenity, but for their stupidity".

[43] Rolling Stone writer Barry Walters gave the album a "two out of five stars" rating, writing that "no musical sleight of hand can disguise the fact that Shaggy and J remain the ultimate wack MCs".

[47] After Woodstock 1999, Insane Clown Posse began its "Amazing Jeckel Brothers Tour", along with musicians Biohazard, Krayzie Bone, Twiztid, Mindless Self Indulgence, and Coal Chamber.

[47] Bruce and Utsler claimed that Coal Chamber had been removed from the tour because of equipment problems, but later revealed the true reason for their actions on The Howard Stern Show, which aired August 19, 1999.

[49] In June 2000, Eminem physically attacked Douglas Dail, an Insane Clown Posse affiliate, threatening him with a gun in the parking lot of a car audio store in Royal Oak, Michigan.

[52] In the spring of 2001, Insane Clown Posse's road manager William Dail was arrested in Omaha, Nebraska, for allegedly choking a man who waved an Eminem T-shirt in front of the band.

That incident involved Insane Clown Posse allegedly attacking employees of a St. Louis radio station over disparaging remarks that a disc jockey made on the air.

"Following the release of The Wraith: Shangri-La, Bruce and Utsler signed a new contract with Sony BMG's RED Distribution and launched the Psychopathic Europe record label.

The group's manager Alex Abbiss extended Bruce and Utsler's condolences and prayers to the families of the victims, stating that "It's quite obvious that this guy had no clue what being a Juggalo is all about.

[83] After the event, a friend of Esham's handed Bruce a copy of his album I Ain't Cha Homey, which depicted a clown committing suicide with a gun on the front cover.

[94] The trailer for Big Money Rustlas spawned a parody video called "Juggalo News", which achieved popularity on CollegeHumor and Funny or Die, and was praised by Bruce on his Twitter account.

[97] On April 17, Saturday Night Live aired a sketch which parodied the "Miracles" music video, featuring host Ryan Phillippe and cast member Bobby Moynihan.

[106] In June, Insane Clown Posse issued a cease and desist notice to the Upright Citizens Brigade, threatening legal action over a planned performance, "The Gathering of the Juggalos For A Mother Fucking Baby Funeral".

[109] In October 2012, the group made an appearance on the Spike television series, 1000 Ways To Die, as the horror rock band, Infernal Clown Posse (Episode: Deadliest Kitch).

[113] The lawsuit asks for the documents that the FBI used to reach this conclusion; in August 2013, federal authorities had "filed a motion to dismiss the case, saying they had already released several news media reports about Juggalos involved in criminal activity".

[115] On September 16, 2017, an estimated 1,500 Juggalos gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial to organize a concert and all-day rally in protest of their gang classification, and "class-based discrimination by law enforcement".

[128] Insane Clown Posse's lyrics utilize "shocking (and blatantly over-the-top) narratives to give an over-exaggerated, almost cartoon-like version of urban deprivation in Detroit", according to author Sara Cohen.

[148][153][157][158][159] The duo has incorporated elements of pop music,[153] industrial rock[153] and funk[153] into its sound, as well as "carnival organ riffs, power chords and shotgun blasts...banjolike plucking and Van Halen-esque guitar squeals".

[160] In his review of The Tempest, Allmusic's David Jeffries writes that Bruce and Utsler "[rap] in a carnival barker fashion that fits with their circus motif, their Insane Clown disguises, and Mike E. Clark's big top-inspired production.

In Marley Brant's Tales from the Rock 'n' Roll Highway, Bruce described a typical performance:[15]We toss out, kick out, and shoot out into the crowd about three to four hundred two-liters of Faygo at every show...We bring with us monsters, dancing clowns, girls, trampolines, and pure and absolute madness to the stage...Shaggy and I know that without all that crazy shit going on around us, we'd just be two more idiots walking back and forth, rapping on stage...ICP's motto has always been "Fuck keepin' it real: we just keep it entertaining.

[64] On tour following the release of Dog Beats, Insane Clown Posse was scheduled to perform at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, but were delayed by a blizzard.

[167] In an October 2010 article for The Guardian, Jon Ronson characterized the Insane Clown Posse as "evangelical Christians" who have "only been pretending to be brutal and sadistic to trick their fans into believing in God".